ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: SOMETHING WORTH DYING FOR

Chan Khong (Cao Ngoc Phuong), Learning True Love: How I Learned and Practiced Social Change in Vietnam  (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1993) ("But in April 1963, the most extreme anti-Buddhist proclamation was issued by the Diem regime. They declared that Wesak, the Buddha's nativity, could no longer be celebrated as a national holiday in Vietnam, and that it was a crime to display the Buddhist flag. In twelve northern provinces of South Vietnam, Wesak was the most important holy day. All fish and meat markets and nonvegetarian restaurants were closed, and anyone could enter a Buddhist temple and receive a vegetarian meal. Buddhist flags were on display everywhere, and processions of carts made of flowers carting a statue of the baby Buddha could be seen throughout the cities, towns, and villages. In Hue, the Buddhist stronghold in Central Vietnam, every household traditionally prepared an altar in the front yard on the eve of Wesak to welcome the baby Buddha. Imagine what a shock it was for the people to learn that all of these practices were suddenly forbidden." Id. at 34. "On June 11, 1963, Thay Quang Duc immolated himself to call for religious freedom. No one had informed me that he was going to do this, but just as the moment he set himself on fire, I happened to be driving by the corner of Phan Dinh Phung and Le van Duyet Streets on my motorbike, and I witnessed him sitting bravely and peacefully, enveloped in flames. He was completely still, while those of us around him were crying and prostrating ourselves on the sidewalk. At that moment, a deep vow sprang forth in me: I too would do something for the respect of human rights in as beautiful and gentle a way as Thay Quang Duc." Id. at 38. "The number of Buddhists who sacrificed themselves increased. Thay Nguyen immolated himself in Phan Thiet on August 4, 1963; the nun Diew Quang in Nha Trang on the same day; Thay Thanh Tue in Hue on August 13. I know that in the West it is hard to understand why Vietnamese burned themselves. It looked like a violent act. Please try to be in the heart and mind of the person performing such an act of great love and sacrifice. To move the hearts of the hardest en and women, you have to give a gift of great value-- even your own life. These people did not die when their bodies turned to ash. When I looked deeply at Thay Quang Duc's sacrifice, I could see his love and deep commitment to human rights born again in me and in thousands of Vietnamese and others all over the world. We received the fire of love and commitment to act from his great sacrifice." Id. at 39-40. Perhaps, those of us who have not found something worth dying for, have not found anything really worth living for.).